Stern gets my nomination for office when he pries it from my cold, dead, Sonics-robbed fingers. I can see it now..."But President Stern brought peace to Darfur!""Fuck him! I only got one year of Durantula in town thanks to him and his douchey friend from OKC!"

David Stern would outsource your job to a demon from the 6th circle of hell and try and tell you Malbolgia is a developing market and there's no room in the 21st century for isolationism except for the 4th quarter when you're down by two.

Times like these I wish I could fully embrace liberated fandom, because then I'd be able to appreciate that game for the awesomeness that it was. Instead I feel like it's 8th grade and my girlfriend dumped me.

Also, I'm with Carter, except that I feel like it's right now and my girlfriend just dumped me.

I know somewhere in my brain's heart that one shouldn't question a man with a resume such as Phil Jackson's, but I feel deeper, perhaps in my heart's vagina (apologies to Brad Neely), that a team blows a 24 point lead only by bad coaching. What the fuck was Turiaff doing on the court that long in the fourth, and why is Radmanovic starting? Why is Fisher coming in with two minutes left? His rotation is haphazard, incidental. The "zen" thing is tired, dead....like Melo's braids.

As the person who came up with the concept, I can tell you that I feel like it's 8th grade and my girlfriend dumped me. The players I like failed, at the hands of a team so disgustingly team-y it has managed to turn me against my old friends (and vice-versa).

I don't think "liberated fandom" is about lovin' the historic moments in the game. That's called ESPN Instant Classic antennae.

As an unabashed, undisguised Kobe-hater, I can tell you it made me grin big when Jon Barry extolled the Lakers' lack of interior defense.Why? Because in light of the Lakers complete donuthood, suddenly all those championships make him Shaq's sidekick again.

Machine, my ass. Hah. Vujacic. What a joke. Gets beat off the dribble by Decrepit Ray Allen and still takes 2 of the last 3 Laker shots.

Kobe was able to get the Lakerettes quite a few open shots after four Celtics collapsed on him. Back in the Shaq days Kobe was one the one nailing those shots (Horry and Fish too!) Is it Kobe's fault Farmer, Vlad, Sasha and Luke laid eggs?I'm not a Kobe jocker.Shoals, it's unfortunate we didn't get a live blog from this game, I think it could've produced some of your most emotional writing yet.

No, but it is his fault when he shoots 6 for 20. And it was his fault when he utterly stunk in the 2004 finals, too. (Go back and check the stats.) Look people make incredibly grandiose claims about Kobe. They can't then turn around and say that he doesn't have enough pieces to win, especially after they pumped up this LA team so much during the playoffs. If he was as incredibly amazing as he is made out to be, he would have found a way to elevate his game. If he's mortal, that's fine-- but admit hes mortal. These Jordan comparisons need to stop.

HP, here's some emotional writing: These playoffs went on forever and ended up being predictable (home team always wins) and undramatic (Hawks, Hornets, and the 2OT game excepted). And now a team that I've spent all year feeling let down by is going to win the title (NOTE: If I'm a "frontrunner," why the lack of interest in the Celtics?). Basically, I've wasted the last two months of my life.

Quick note about the Lakers in 2004, that team couldn't wait until that season was over. If you'll remember there were some fairly strong agendas being aligned for that off-season (Phil wrote a book about it). If the Lakers win that series the Shaq departure probably doesn't happen. When Malone went down that whole Lakers team didn't exactly play like their lives depended on it.

Also, you Kobe haters better get your licks in now, because this Lakers team is about the make a run at transcendent greatness in the next decade. In 1990 the conversation about "greatest player ever" shined a bright light on the names Bird and Magic, while Jordan was only beginning to be mentioned. Even though everyone saw how great he was, there weren't many putting him above those two. 10 years later there aren't many names there besides Jordans. Sound like a familiar scenario?

I'm not saying Kobe is the greatest player ever, but if you people are waiting for his name to drop from the conversation, it's gonna be a rough 10 years. Especially as Kobe keeps adding trophies to his column of accomplishments. And especially as the target demographic for the medias focus is fixated on a generation that don't remember Jordan shoving Bryon Russel out of the way to shoot a game winner.

That generation will have just seen Kobe put up 50 and 8 against the Brooklyn LeBrons though.

First of all, sharky, I don't understand how you can watch this team play and still be so sanguine. Pau Gasol is not suddenly going to grow a pair of testicles. Andrew Bynum is about 90% hype-- he averaged 13 and 10! Oooh!

Second, do yourself a favor and look up how many NBA minutes Kobe Bryant has played in his career. He is old for his age-- you just can't keep putting up the kind of mileage he's put up and not start to break down. The idea that he's just reaching his peak, or something, is laughable.

Since I grew up a Lakers fan during the 80s and am not quite liberated when it comes to them, I'm sorry to say I agree with deBoer on a lot of points here. There is a lot of potential here, and I don't doubt they will be contenders in some way. But there are some serious weaknesses and a lot of questions too.

Secondly, Kobe is great and does things that boggle the mind, but it seems that anyone as good as people say he is would have managed to protect a lead like that and elevate everyone's game to get the W. And he still acts like a pissed-off 12 year old too often.

fredrik- This post will still be here in a 5 years most likely. Meet me back here and we'll see. I think you're assessment of Bynum sort of shows what weight-class you're fighting in (though the use of the word "sanquine" deserves some props). And the NBA minutes argument is so utterly ridiculous (I do realize it is a popular one shared by many more than you though) that I nearly pee my pants when people blaze it. I don't mean to be rude, really and truly. Gasol's balls will be just fine, though I readily admit KG ate his lunch this series.

Michael- You're questions will be answered soon enough. The Lakers hatred is about to accelerate through the roof as they dominate this league for the next few years. Which is funny because if the same team were called the Suns or from New York they would be celebrated throughout the land.

As far as "a lot of questions" and "weaknesses" go, the fact is the Lakers already came out of one of the most difficult conferences historically and won the WCT. They met a team in the Finals that provided serious match-up problems and had a bad series. People acting like the sky is falling in LA need to get a grip.

In any case, we won't have to wait long to see who is right. See you next year.